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Animal rights group files complaint against Harvard Medical School claiming violations of federal law
From Tanner Stening, MassLive.com, December 3, 2019
An animal rights group filed a federal complaint against Harvard Medical
School after a monkey in a research lab died of strangulation over the
summer.
The complaint, filed by SAEN (Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!) on Nov. 30 with
the U.S. Department of Agriculture, alleges that the death of a monkey on
July 28 violates the federal Animal Welfare Act.
According to a letter detailing the incident from Harvard to the the
National Institutes of Health, the macaque had strangled itself through a
hole it had ripped in a covering over its cage.
“In response to this incident, all hanging surrogates have been removed from
macaque cages,” writes Lisa Muto, executive dean for administration at
Harvard Medical School.
Michael Budkie, SAEN’s executive director, notes in the complaint that
Harvard researchers were conducting research that involved isolating the
monkey from members of its species, writing that “it is highly likely that
this project caused these animals to experience unrelieved distress due to
lack of normal social interaction with members of their own species, or
humans.”
“I insist that your office launch a full investigation of the incidents
surrounding this death and these fraudulent reports, and at the conclusion
of the investigation, punish this criminal laboratory with the maximum
penalty of $10,000 per infraction/per animal,” Budkie writes.